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So, you turned the work in on time.  Or your book or photo or article has been published — and the expected checks and statements haven’t arrived.  

The path from submission to payment can be labyrinthine, but for the purposes of this article (getting paid what’s due), we’re going to skip through all of those gnarly acceptance issues and the corn-maze process of 13 editors reading and critiquing and rewriting your article 14 times. Let’s make some assumptions: Either your piece was  acceptable when you submitted it (and the editor told you so). Or ir wasn’t, but you revised it to the editor’s specifications. 

Now time has passed, you’ve invoiced, and there’s no check.  What you do is going to depend on many factors, including the contract you had with the publisher (For example, did it specify “payment on acceptance”?)

• Give the editor a reasonable amount of time to process your invoice, then e-mail a friendly, “Thanks for your note saying my article looked good. I’ve send the invoice, per the contract. Is there anything else you need to me do?”
• Your preliminary conversations with the editor should have elicited information about the path to payment: Ie, you should know who to send the invoice to, and you should have an idea of how quickly the publisher pays. Start the clock ticking, and keep track of where you are on the timeline. 
• Unfortunately, the next step is to start being a bit of a pain in the butt. The trick is to get paid without alientaing an editor who you might want to work with again. Often, slow payment isn’t the editor’s fault: she may simply be working for a slow-paying company whose policy is to take advantage of the “float” on unpaid funds. This is not a good thing — and most of us would prefer not to work for such companies. On the other hand, they aren’t deadbeats; they are simply playing a game that is legal under the rules of capitalism. Your role in this game is to be a squeaky wheel.
• Phone calls are even more unpleasant (for everyone), although the truth is, most often, you won’t get through. These days, everyone screens their calls, either with assistants and receptionists or with caller ID. Still, the appearance of your name on their message list may be enough to get some action. Sometimes you’ll have luck trying to get an editor before 9, after 5, or during lunch — editors often work long hours, and these are the times their phones are less protected by assistants and receptionists. Again, personally, I prefer not to play these games, and I prefer not work for people who clearly screen my calls and never return them. But I don’t make the rules here.
• Don’t be afraid to let the person you’ve been dealing with know that since you haven’t heard back, you feel like you’re forced to go up the ladder to find out what’s going on. IF she has been sitting on the invoice, this might shake it loose. 

At some point, it might become clear that you aren’t dealing with slow payment: You are dealing with no payment. Yes, Virginia, there are publications that outright stiff writers. This has only happened to me once (slow payment, though is an other thing….) and I did have some recource because the arrangement involved more than one party.

• Keep a record of any contact with the company, including phone logs and e-mails. If recording a phone call is legal in your state, do it. (Is it legal? Check out http://www.rcfp.org/taping/ )
• Your first written communications should be polite and firm. Some writers have had success quoting the contract, saying the process of submissions and acceptance, reminding the deadbeat that they have fulfilled all their obligations, and that you hope they will do the right thing and rectify the problem immediately, as you know they are an upstanding company. Hold off on the legal threats, except, possibly, to say that legal action is something you would hate to pursue. (This implies that you WILL if you have to — but no one wants to.)
• Further communications may get a bit more legal: I have also sometimes reminded slow payers that since they haven’t paid for my piece, they have no right to run it in their magazine. You might also say that since they are in breach of contract, you wish to withdraw your submission (do this if you know the issue has already gone to press — this would put them in a terrible position.)
• Make sure you are communicating with the right person. In addition to going UP the ladder, you might try going lateral – to accounts payable. 
• Keep the conversation civil. Your blood may be boiling, and you may have thought of no end of colorful names to call your deadbeat, but that’s not going to get you anywhere.
• Along the same lines, ALWAYS realize that the person you are dealing with might truly be caught in a Catch 22 that she can’t get out of… Try to give people the benefit of the doubt as long as you can,  because most are NOT out to screw you, and they will help you more if you keep it civil. This means not letting loose with your barrage of legal lingo and threats at first. First, when you find someone who may be able to help you, give them time and a chance to make things right. There will (unfortunately) be plenty of time to escalate the discussion.
• Remember that most people LIKE to think of themselves as the “good guys.” So approach them that way: Tell them you KNOW that this isn’t the way they normally do business, but something has gone wrong, and you need to ask them to cut through the red tape, do the right thing and GET YOU PAID. You want the person who can help you to be on your side.
• If that person simply refuses, and you’ve gone as high up the ladder and are certain that there is a real problem, you can remind them of legal recourse. Generally legal recourse either involves breach of contract or the copyright law.  Most non-payment issues are breaches of contract. (This means you soud have a copy of your contract — with everyone’s signatures on it. A lot of writers, in this day of e-mail, simply have copies of unsigned copies of contracts. While these have been held legally enforceable if it is clear that everyone has agreed to the terms, a signed contract is better). Be sure your work is copyrighted, as well: While non-payment is generally not a copyright issue, without paying you, a publication has no right to run your piece or sell your book. This is something to remind them of in your correspondence.  
• CC’ing a lawyer isn’t a bad idea, even if it’s only your sister-in-law who only does deeds and real estate. I was actually once told by an agent (through whom I was pursuing a deadbeat client) that “the cost of litigation won’t make this worth it.” “I’m sure that’s what they are counting on,” I said. “But I’m lucky: I have lawyers in my family, so I don’t have to worry about the cost.”  
• Get help from any writers’ groups you belong to. Some provide a grievance committee or (limited) free or low-cost legal advice.
• Post questions about the non-payment on writers’ boards: You are warning other writers away, and this is also a chance to find out if others are suffering the same problems, or what they did to shake loose the money. 
• Small claims court is an option (although collecting a judgement can be a problem! A true deadbeat who is contemptuous of his contractual responsibilities under the law may also be contemptuous of a judgement — you may have to hire a collection agency.)  Each state runs small claims differently; you may have to appear in person, the amount you can sue for is limited, and you may not be able to use small claims if your business is incorporated. Nonetheless, many writers have had to go this route.

Don’t let it go! This is your livelihood — and non-payment is stealing.